Bangert: Why that new Old National Bank sign in downtown Lafayette is so huge

At one-third the length of a football field, Old National Bank’s new sign overlooking the Wabash River is hard to miss in downtown Lafayette. Say what you will, it’s exactly as the city imagined

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A new sign for Old National Bank's new regional headquarters in downtown Lafayette has raised complaints since it was installed two weeks ago on top of The Marq, a $24 million development at 101 Main St. The sign measures 12-by-103 feet, making rival the Chase Bank sign at the top of the bank tower at Second and Main streets.(Photo: John Terhune/Journal & Courier)Buy Photo

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A few days after a new sign – freshly conspicuous at the entrance of downtown Lafayette and measuring one-third the length of a football field – went up to mark the pending arrival of Old National Bank’s regional headquarters, Kent Schuette took his review of it to the zoning board that cleared the way for the giant logo along the banks of the Wabash River.

Schuette spent six years as Lafayette’s redevelopment director in the early-‘70s and two terms as a city council member. He wanted to know whether any of the five Lafayette Board of Zoning Appeals members had been to Seattle to see the iconic – and equally huge – neon sign and clock at the entrance to Pike Place Market, a staple on Food Network shows.

“Sometimes signs can be so bad, they’re good,” Schuette said during the Nov. 20 meeting, putting the Seattle neon piece into that dubious class.

As for the new Old National Bank sign, installed in mid-November on top of a $24 million Marq retail/housing project at 101 Main St. that is intended to be a centerpiece of Lafayette’s riverfront development?

“This sign is so bad, it’s just bad,” said Schuette, who also is a past president of the Wabash Valley Trust for Historic Preservation. “It totally destroys the skyline. It’s just too big.”

Can anything be done about it at this point, he asked. The answer: Given that the zoning board had signed off on the sign’s size back in February, not much at this point, David Griffee, assistant city engineer, told Schuette.

The sign is hard to miss, whether driving across the Wabash River bridges or listening in on the grumbling and grousing in some downtown circles.

“I personally think it looks tacky as hell,” said Ken McCammon, president of Friends of Downtown. “Not a fan.”

“I didn’t know it was coming. In fact, I saw some of the official drawings of the Marq way back when, and they offered no clue as to this,” said Dave Mason, owner of ISPhotographic, 505 Main St. “It is just so hideous.”

But a bank official, the Indianapolis-based developers of The Marq and city officials have been quick to defend the sign.

“To be honest, I think it looks pretty good,” Jackson Bogan, a member of the Lafayette Board of Appeals, said this week. “It’s pretty much true to form – spot on for what they told us it would be.”

Bogan is right, too. It’s exactly what Old National Bank proposed.

The Marq, which takes up a city block along Second Street between Main to Columbia streets, has been under construction for more than a year. The project is expected to be ready for Old National Bank by February, with leasing starting for 99 apartments in April, said Trinity Hall, a vice president with Deylen Realty, the Indianapolis firm that owns The Marq. (Negotiations for a smaller retail space are in the works, Hall said.)

In February, Old National and Deylen asked for a variance to zoning codes to allow a total of 1,435-square-feet of signage for a collection of signs, instead of the 80 square feet allowed. Of that, 1,092 square feet was reserved for a sign that would stand on top of the four-story apartment complex portion of The Marq, facing the Wabash River.

The application shows a sign 12-feet, 10 inches tall and 103 feet wide, with each letter in the bank’s name measuring 5 feet, 5 inches. Renderings of the sign show it exactly how it looks in real life, including a mesh-like backing that allows a gauzy view to the Tippecanoe County Courthouse and other downtown features.

Mark DeYoung, an attorney for Deylen and Old National, made the case that being on the river was a factor for the amount of signage needed, according to Lafayette BZA minutes. And, he argued, the request is in line with signage allowances for a bank tower one block away.

In 2015, the Lafayette Board of Zoning Appeals increased room for signs on the bank tower at Second and Main streets from a maximum of 1,150 square feet to 1,653 square feet. That allowed the addition of a sign for Centier Bank on the east side of the 10-story building – the one facing the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. Signs for Chase bank remained on other sides, including the one facing the Wabash River.

“My impression was that it fell in line with other appeals that had been made, like with the Chase Bank tower,” said Tracy Walder, a Lafayette BZA member.

The Board of Zoning Appeals voted 4-0 in favor of the signs that day.

Nine months later, with the sign installed, Bob Smith, regional president for Old National Bank, said he hasn’t heard complaints.

“We’re just pleased to be able to expand our presence in downtown Lafayette and to be part of The Marq development and new riverfront promenade,” Smith said. “We presented a sign package that the architect felt was appropriate, and we’re pleased it met with approval.”

The reviews are still coming in, just the same.

“Besides the fact that it’s an obvious eyesore, it’s also a beacon as to the double standard that exists in this town, at least to my mind,” Mason said. “Small businesses are forced to jump through multiple hoops in order to uphold a standard of historic preservation. We are limited in scale and scope as to what we are allowed by the city. And this? A bit of a slap in the face.”

Walder said she’s been across the bridge and she’s seen the sign. She said she stuck by her vote for the variance, though how the sign looked on paper and how it looks installed seem different.

“I think visually it gives people the impression that it’s that much bigger,” Walder said. “I totally understand where people are coming from. … But in terms of size, I think you’ll find others (in downtown) in the same range.”

As Schuette left the Lafayette BZA meeting last week, he thanked members for taking on a thankless job. He thanked them for their time and their explanation, even if it meant that the only recourse at this point was to put pressure on the bank to reconsider a sign he was convinced was so bad in every sense of the word.